New York City is known for its array of strange smells, from urine to body odor, but one tree is filling the streets with a particularly unpleasant stench.
The Callery Pear tree, which is in the same family as the Bradford Pear, has a distinctive smell that many people find disgusting.
So if you find yourself scrunching your nose up this spring, that’s why!
The Callery Pear litters the Big Apple’s streets in all five boroughs, so there’s no escaping it.
You might even find the invasive species beautiful due to its white flowers – it’s one of the first to flower as winter breaks away.
But the tree releases the compound trimethylamine and that’s what causes the fishy smell, native New Yorker Olivia Rose told DailyMail.com after sharing a recent TikTok.
The compound can be found in semen and ammonia and it’s a pollinator attractor.
‘The fact that they attract pollinators now – mostly flies and beetles – is more of an ecological irony. The scent is designed to mimic decay – that’s what pulls in the bugs. Turns out, some of them think semen smells like Byredo [perfume].’
The Callery Pear tree – which is in the same family as the Bradford Pear – has a distinct smell
The peak stink comes between mid-March and mid-April as the tree begins to bloom
For those visiting or living in the Big Apple, the Callery Pear is littering the streets of all five boroughs, so there’s no escaping it. NYC has 65,591 of these trees
The peak stink comes between mid-March and mid-April as the tree begins to bloom.
‘That’s when they bloom and the smell is unmistakable – funky, fishy, and wafting through the city,’ Olivia said. ‘It’s released during the early bloom. [The] Bradford Pear evolved to attract flies and beetles, many of which are drawn to the scent of decay.’
The trees first came to New York City around the 1970s as ‘as part of broader street beautification efforts,’ Rose told DailyMail.com.
‘There are plenty of invasive species growing around the city, but they were not planted with malice,’ Olivia, who has a degree in landscape architecture from Cornell, told DailyMail.com.
NYC has 65,591 of these trees and NYC Parks estimates it saves the city $8million a year through stormwater interception, energy conserved, and air pollutants removed.
However, the trees aren’t all they are cracked up to be, Olivia said.
‘The Bradford Pear seemed like an ideal choice: a picturesque tree with a lollipop form, early white blooms, fast-growing, inexpensive, and able to thrive in polluted and compacted soil.
‘It was thought to be sterile and low maintenance, but widespread planting of other Callery pear cultivars led to unexpected cross-pollination – sparking a wave of invasive offspring.’
The tree released the compound trimethylamine, which gives the plant its fishy smell, Olivia told DailyMail.com
NYC no longer plants these trees and certain states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania, have banned the trees due to being invasive.
‘They weren’t kept for pollinators. It was a visual choice. It was fast. It gave impact. Pretty – and symmetrical,’ Olivia told DailyMail.com.
The trees are native to China and Vietnam that grow up to 26 feet tall.
In the springtime, the tree produces white flowers, but as the weather gets cooler, it blossoms red, pink, orange, and more, according to NYC Parks.
